Stock Piling Jr College Players

[bikeriderga 134]

Gus and Company are going after quite a few Jr College Payers, more than usual. There can only be two reasons why.

Upsides and Reasons for Jr College Recruits

1. Need experienced talent immediately

Given that a has gaps to fill. Even though Chizik and staff did well on the recruiting scene, it certainly did not translate to wins, although as we all know, coaching was certainly sub-par last year.

2. Looking for immediate results

Gus and company have said and these recruiting actions certainly back it up that they want to put Auburn back to winning ways. This is a good short term strategy to get us there. Jr College players have experience playing with better than HS competition.

Downsides

1. Many Jr College players will have only one or two seasons to play.

If they are outstanding (like Wide Receiver talent, D'Haquille Williams), they may only play one year.

2. If the Jr College transfers only have two years to play at most, depth will suffer soon.

The challenge will be to recruit longer term players while filling immediate needs.

Your thoughts?

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

Gus and Company are going after quite a few Jr College Payers, more than usual. There can only be two reasons why.

Upsides and Reasons for Jr College Recruits

1. Need experienced talent immediately

Given that a has gaps to fill. Even though Chizik and staff did well on the recruiting scene, it certainly did not translate to wins, although as we all know, coaching was certainly sub-par last year.

2. Looking for immediate results

Gus and company have said and these recruiting actions certainly back it up that they want to put Auburn back to winning ways. This is a good short term strategy to get us there. Jr College players have experience playing with better than HS competition.

Downsides

1. Many Jr College players will have only one or two seasons to play.

If they are outstanding (like Wide Receiver talent, D'Haquille Williams), they may only play one year.

2. If the Jr College transfers only have two years to play at most, depth will suffer soon.

The challenge will be to recruit longer term players while filling immediate needs.

Your thoughts?

I don't think that Auburn is bringing in an excessive amount of JC players. Not unusual to seee SEC teams pull 3 to 5 JC players per year. Most of bama's DTs are usually JC talent. War Eagle

[bird36 5]

Auburn's lack of player development under Chizik makes it important to get a few JCs to plug some holes.

[Charleston Tiger 134]

Gus and Company are going after quite a few Jr College Payers, more than usual. There can only be two reasons why.

Upsides and Reasons for Jr College Recruits

1. Need experienced talent immediately

Given that a has gaps to fill. Even though Chizik and staff did well on the recruiting scene, it certainly did not translate to wins, although as we all know, coaching was certainly sub-par last year.

2. Looking for immediate results

Gus and company have said and these recruiting actions certainly back it up that they want to put Auburn back to winning ways. This is a good short term strategy to get us there. Jr College players have experience playing with better than HS competition.

Downsides

1. Many Jr College players will have only one or two seasons to play.

If they are outstanding (like Wide Receiver talent, D'Haquille Williams), they may only play one year.

2. If the Jr College transfers only have two years to play at most, depth will suffer soon.

The challenge will be to recruit longer term players while filling immediate needs.

Your thoughts?

I feel like that's exactly what they are going for - recruit HS athletes, but until that talent is developed in a college S&C system, the position is one of immediate need. Snag the JuCo guy, recruit the HS player, and the JuCo serves two purposes - shore up the position now and act as a mentor to the younger player, ie. show that hard work, dedication does pay off.

[kd4au 1,145]

It seems they are only recruiting the top JC guy's.I see no downside to getting the best players you can get.I would rather have a Cam for one year than not have him at all.

[AU64 10,122]

JMO but it's also designed to create some depth and have conditions where freshmen are not depended on to start or play a key role in their first season. Over the decades, most of the old dynasty teams had plenty of red-shirt 5th year seniors playing key positions...especially in the line. It's nice to be able to introduce freshmen to the SEC in a measured fashion. Some can blame Chiz or whoever for not developing players but it's still a fact that once the 30 players left after the 2010 season, we were playing freshmen all over the place and paying the price for it. I still think that 'stache and lefty quit about mid-season last year so I don't know what the real talent level was/is. On the other hand however, Gus and staff have inherited a large number of players with SEC experience..... and have the opportunity to surprise a lot of opponents...if they can re-ignite the players' motivation.

[ellitor 33,287]

Gus and Company are going after quite a few Jr College Payers, more than usual. There can only be two reasons why.

Upsides and Reasons for Jr College Recruits

1. Need experienced talent immediately

Given that a has gaps to fill. Even though Chizik and staff did well on the recruiting scene, it certainly did not translate to wins, although as we all know, coaching was certainly sub-par last year.

2. Looking for immediate results

Gus and company have said and these recruiting actions certainly back it up that they want to put Auburn back to winning ways. This is a good short term strategy to get us there. Jr College players have experience playing with better than HS competition.

Downsides

1. Many Jr College players will have only one or two seasons to play.

If they are outstanding (like Wide Receiver talent, D'Haquille Williams), they may only play one year.

2. If the Jr College transfers only have two years to play at most, depth will suffer soon.

The challenge will be to recruit longer term players while filling immediate needs.

Your thoughts?

I don't think that Auburn is bringing in an excessive amount of JC players. Not unusual to seee SEC teams pull 3 to 5 JC players per year. Most of bama's DTs are usually JC talent. War Eagle

Since Bama is the Gold Standard right now we have to go by their stats for the last 6 classes. Other than the 2011 class they never signed more than 1 juco per year. They signed 4 in 2011. There are a couple of years they did not sign any. So I would say anything more than 3 on a yearly basis after things get rolling would be unusual for championship caliber football.

[IronMan70 3,315]

Talented JUCOs are not in direct competition with Freshmen, they are brought in to fill immediate needs in the 2 deep. These needs result when the Junior class is unable to handle the job because of attrition or lack of talent development in the previous 2 (or 3) recruiting classes. Since JUCOs are more mature and more developed they are ready to compete, where as "most" Freshmen are not. The majority of Freshmen should and are in the development phase the first 2 years anyway.

As better recruiting and development of incoming Freshmen takes place and they can begin to make the 2 deep in their RSophomore-Junior years, without compromising the talent level standard, the need for JUCOs will diminish. But until the transition, if Gus doesn't want to sacrifice whatever standard he set to make the 2 deep, he has to get good JUCOs to do the job that already have the talent. JUCOs are a roster management tool, so as better players (recruited and developed) move through the system, the issue will solve itself.

[StatTiger 3,188]

Don't want to make a habit of it though Kansas State under Bill Snyder did a great job. For now, Malzahn is attempting to fill immediate needs until the roster is at a point you can rebuild through normal HS recruitment.

[war eagle6 0]

I like it!! Competition is what our fresh & soph's need, it will only make them better as a whole! "In Gus we Trust"

[homersapien 11,812]

Interesting topic.

While I would prefer to see mostly high school players coming in, the only real disadvantage of signing JC players is the "turnover" issue (your disadvantage #2). But this is a disadvantage only because it absolutely requires your recruiting to be excellent every year in order to avoid "down" years. Once you establish a consistently high level of recruiting, you can start "reloading" each year. (Bama currently.) And true freshmen admittedly give you more time to "coach them up" to your system.

But like others have pointed out, talent is talent and this is the quickest way to get to that point.

[jared52 4,356]

One thing I think you get from JC transfers is a guy who clearly loves to play football. I don't think you deal with the grind of football in obscurity unless you really love to play.

[NoALtiger 3,875]

It seems they are only recruiting the top JC guy's.I see no downside to getting the best players you can get.I would rather have a Cam for one year than not have him at all.

^^Absolutely^^

[TeBoneAU 89]

Coach Malzahn, the coaching staff, the fans, the players, the recruits and others all want to see immediate results on the field starting with Washington State. He knows AU can't afford a long 3 to 4 years developmental and building of a team process from talented FRESHMEN only. Heck I betcha if AU doesn't win atleast 8 games and beat certain teams there will be some second guessing his hire and calling for a coaching change. IMO he is planning to compete starting game 1 of this year with every team that Auburn faces. The only way to do that with the team that he inherit is to...fill the immediate needs at positions with Juco players that can compete physically and mentally now. The talented young freshmen can be developed physically and mentally along the way.

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

Auburn's lack of player development under Chizik makes it important to get a few JCs to plug some holes.

+1

[bikeriderga 134]

BTW,

Did not say there is something wrong with what Gus and company are doing, but yes, we are targeting more JUCO players than in the recent past.

2013 JUCO Commits

1. Nick Marshall -- QB

2. Brandon King -- DB

3. Ben Bradley -- DT

4. Cameron Artis Payne - RB

2014 JUCO Targets

1. D'haquille Williams WR -- Verbal Commit

2. Devaroe Lawrence DT - Verbal Commit

3. Derrick Moncrief DT -- Verbal Commit

4. Carl Williams Safety

5. Dontavious Blair OT

6. Devonte Lambert SDE

7. Abu Lambin DT

I would say 7 targets as JUCO is much higher than usual. If we land all of these targets, that is 13 JUCOs on the squad in two years.

[BirdofPrey76 0]

Kenny Flowers?

[TigerWar 82]

Kenny Flowers?

Correct, we signed 5 JUCOS last

BTW,

Did not say there is something wrong with what Gus and company are doing, but yes, we are targeting more JUCO players than in the recent past.

2013 JUCO Commits

1. Nick Marshall -- QB

2. Brandon King -- DB

3. Ben Bradley -- DT

4. Cameron Artis Payne - RB

2014 JUCO Targets

1. D'haquille Williams WR -- Verbal Commit

2. Devaroe Lawrence DT - Verbal Commit

3. Derrick Moncrief DT -- Verbal Commit

4. Carl Williams Safety

5. Dontavious Blair OT

6. Devonte Lambert SDE

7. Abu Lambin DT

I would say 7 targets as JUCO is much higher than usual. If we land all of these targets, that is 13 JUCOs on the squad in two years.

Ugh, you left 2 JUCO signees off of the 2013 list - Devonte Danzey and Kenny Flowers. We signed 6 JUCOS in '13.

[AUpocalypse 12]

I think a primary and excluded reason from this discussion is the fact that the staff is behind everyone else in recruiting for their schools. ie... they're having to play catch up in recruiting junior and senior kids into coming to Auburn as opposed to ArkySt/FSU/uga/clem/soMiss/etc.

I have no problem if Auburn signs 15 JUCO's per year. If the best JUCO players in America want to sign with the good guys, I say bring them in.

[cptau 169]

JUCO players are either players that could not academically quality as freshmen or players that moved down from a 4 years school so they could play.

It would be interesting to know what the star rating coming out of high school was for the JUCO guys. Some are talented players that just needed extra time with academics

[Dom1ni0n 51]

It's nice to be able to introduce freshmen to the SEC in a measured fashion. Some can blame Chiz or whoever for not developing players but it's still a fact that once the 30 players left after the 2010 season, we were playing freshmen all over the place and paying the price for it. I still think that 'stache and lefty quit about mid-season last year so I don't know what the real talent level was/is. On the other hand however, Gus and staff have inherited a large number of players with SEC experience..... and have the opportunity to surprise a lot of opponents...if they can re-ignite the players' motivation.

Heading into 2011, there was a far greater need to poach the JuCo ranks, especially in the trenches as you mentioned. Heck, might have actually been able to land RW with a few decent JuCo acquisitions on the O-line. Although most everyone already knew it would be a rebuilding year, it seems as if Chizik was content with accepting that.

Heading into 2013, the freshman have now grown up, but the need to have potentially game changing players in key positions that could help the team win immediately appears to be the focus this season, as opposed to throwing the youngsters in the line of fire right off the bat.

[westwareagle1 0]

Something makes me think the guys he's bringing in can make an immediate impact and help us compete sooner rather than later. I think we're stronger on the offensive side of the ball this year. We had a couple of JUCO players on that 2010 NCteam

[AU64 10,122]

It's nice to be able to introduce freshmen to the SEC in a measured fashion. Some can blame Chiz or whoever for not developing players but it's still a fact that once the 30 players left after the 2010 season, we were playing freshmen all over the place and paying the price for it. I still think that 'stache and lefty quit about mid-season last year so I don't know what the real talent level was/is. On the other hand however, Gus and staff have inherited a large number of players with SEC experience..... and have the opportunity to surprise a lot of opponents...if they can re-ignite the players' motivation.

Heading into 2011, there was a far greater need to poach the JuCo ranks, especially in the trenches as you mentioned. Heck, might have actually been able to land RW with a few decent JuCo acquisitions on the O-line. Although most everyone already knew it would be a rebuilding year, it seems as if Chizik was content with accepting that.

Heading into 2013, the freshman have now grown up, but the need to have potentially game changing players in key positions that could help the team win immediately appears to be the focus this season, as opposed to throwing the youngsters in the line of fire right off the bat.

Lots of holes in the line-up with unexpected departures of some good players/prospects (Dyer, the "four", Westerman, etc.) and it would take several years to bring in frosh and let them develop. The 2010 team had a ton of seniors...most on the O and D lines and when they were gone, there was very little serious experience behind them and not much leadership. Looks like Gus is trying to set up conditions with a good senior class each year ....and with experienced Juniors and Sophs coming up to replace them.

The Jucos are pretty highly rated and should be able to contribute NOW....which is Gus's apparent plan....win now and build for the future.....looks possible to me.

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

You may not see any of these JC players start this year. I think what Gus was actually bringing in was needed depth in some positions. Just like the NM. They probably new of JS's situation and new we needed at least 4 scholaship QBs at the very least. That doesn't mean that NM won't start, but for some to automatically assume that GM saw something wrong with his others is also wrong. Some positions like both lines,players need time to grow physically. Not sure in those case you are not better at getting players that have spent that time in the JC ranks also gaining confidence by playing. As others have stated, a lot of times these are very good players that have gone the JC route because of grade issues or even size issues. Some have gone there like Cam to get playing time also. I have no problem with the mix, as long as the coaches are getting quality players and fill the needs the team has. War Eagle.

[bikeriderga 134]

Kenny Flowers?

Correct, we signed 5 JUCOS last

BTW,

Did not say there is something wrong with what Gus and company are doing, but yes, we are targeting more JUCO players than in the recent past.

2013 JUCO Commits

1. Nick Marshall -- QB

2. Brandon King -- DB

3. Ben Bradley -- DT

4. Cameron Artis Payne - RB

2014 JUCO Targets

1. D'haquille Williams WR -- Verbal Commit

2. Devaroe Lawrence DT - Verbal Commit

3. Derrick Moncrief DT -- Verbal Commit

4. Carl Williams Safety

5. Dontavious Blair OT

6. Devonte Lambert SDE

7. Abu Lambin DT

I would say 7 targets as JUCO is much higher than usual. If we land all of these targets, that is 13 JUCOs on the squad in two years.

Ugh, you left 2 JUCO signees off of the 2013 list - Devonte Danzey and Kenny Flowers. We signed 6 JUCOS in '13.

Thanks.. Was trying to compile this quickly. Thanks for correcting the list.

So we MUST assume that Gus is Definitely filling holes and wants Auburn back on the winning side as soon as possible, as well as building depth.

2013 will be the beginning of the rebuilding. If we keep the JUCOs for 2014, here's believing we are at the top the SEC again (along with some talented and experienced underclassmen).